QAnon Supporters Think Donald Trump Will Be Sworn in as President on March 4

Many QAnon believers felt a major shock on Jan. 20 when Joe Biden was successfully sworn in as the 46th president of the United States, replacing Donald Trump. This is in part because most assumed that Trump had some secret plan to maintain power, even after he lost the election and his efforts to overturn the results failed in courts across the country. Now, QAnon believers think something major is in the works. 

After Biden was sworn in as president, QAnon supporters began to focus on a new date: March 4, 2021. According to a new theory, this is the day when Biden will be deposed and replaced by Donald Trump, who will be once again sworn in as president. This theory is provably false and is not based in any sort of reality. For Trump to be sworn in as president on March 4, the current U.S. government would have to be forcibly overthrown. 

Although an armed mob did descend on the Capitol in order to prevent Congress from certifying the election results on Jan. 6, the election was nonetheless certified, and security in Washington, D.C. has been beefed up substantially in the aftermath of the event. There has also been no indication that military leaders are inclined to throw their support behind former President Trump. 

Although the beliefs of QAnon supporters can sometimes take on qualities that are more similar to faith than anything else, the March 4 conspiracy stems from a convoluted scenario involving the military. In this scenario, after Trump's challenges were tossed out of the Supreme Court, and after Congress certified the election, Trump went to the military to present his case for election fraud. 

Because the fraud implicates China, the theory goes, the military will side with Trump. In order to avoid an armed revolt, though, Biden has to be sworn in, but only as a formality. Then, Trump and the military will present their case for the fraud, and the result will be overturned with Trump sworn in on March 4. That date is significant because, until FDR's second inauguration, it was the date for the swearing in ceremony for new presidents. 

This theory also relates, in some loose way, to the belief that America is no longer a true democracy and is instead a corporation. The theory, as strange as it sounds, suggests that Biden was actually sworn in as CEO and that when Trump takes power on March 4, he will be restoring America to its democratic roots. Apparently, he'll be the 17th president, because America hasn't been a democracy since the Civil War. 

Conveniently, March 4 is a date that is far enough away that it will allow the theory to pick up steam before it is disproved. When March 4 comes, and Biden is still president, some QAnon supporters may be disenchanted. Most, however, will simply glom onto the next conspiracy theory, waiting for one of their prophecies to come true.